U.S. Virgin Islands National Park Coral Transplant Study, St. John, 1999-2009 (NODC Accession 0112724)

In a pilot project in the Caribbean (Virgin Islands National Park, St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands), storm-produced fragments of Acropora palmata, Acropora cervicornis, and Porites porites were collected from donor reefs and transplanted to nearby degraded reefs. Sixty coral fragments were attached to dead-coral substrate (usually upright Acropora palmata skeletons), at similar depths from which they had been collected (1 to 3.5 m), using nylon cable ties. Seventy-five intact colonies were designated as reference colonies. Study colonies were assessed at 6-month intervals for 2 years (1999-2001) and annually thereafter (through 2009). The primary research objective was to evaluate the feasibility of using storm-produced coral fragments as the source of coral transplants to enhance degraded reefs. Original data are in MS-Excel spreadsheet format with a species list in .doc format and Federal Geographic Data Committee format (FGDC) metadata as an .xml file.在加勒比海美属维尔京群岛圣约翰岛维尔京群岛国家公园开展的一项试点研究中，研究人员从供体珊瑚礁采集了风暴冲击产生的鹿角轴孔珊瑚（Acropora palmata）、鹿角珊瑚（Acropora cervicornis）和多孔螅（Porites porites）断枝，并将其移植至邻近的退化珊瑚礁。研究人员使用尼龙扎带将60段珊瑚断枝固定于死珊瑚基底（通常为直立的鹿角轴孔珊瑚（Acropora palmata）骨骼）上，固定水深与断枝采集时的水深一致（1至3.5米）。另有75个完整珊瑚群落被设为对照群落。研究群落分别在1999年至2001年的2年间每6个月接受一次评估，之后每年开展一次评估（直至2009年）。本研究的核心目标为评估以风暴产生的珊瑚断枝作为珊瑚移植种质来源，以修复退化珊瑚礁的可行性。 原始数据采用MS-Excel电子表格格式存储，物种列表以.doc格式保存，联邦地理数据委员会（Federal Geographic Data Committee, FGDC）元数据以.xml文件形式提供。